If You Like The Correspondent…
Virginia Evans’s The Correspondent (2025) is a novel in letters, mostly written by Sybil Van Antwerp, a woman in her 70s living in Maryland. Through the letters we learn of Sybil’s career as a lawyer and law clerk, of her being adopted as an toddler, of her marriage and divorce, of her three children (one of whom died in childhood), of her deteriorating eyesight. Sybil writes to a wide swath of people — her family, friends, authors, professors, suitors, and customer service representatives. She is sometimes rash in her writing but mature enough to make amends in the next letter for an offending remark. She receives letters as well, giving us a wider picture of her world.
I listened to the book as an audiobook, narrated by a team of voice actors. It was fun to hear the different voices for the different characters. I found myself experiencing the same excitement that I might feel getting a letter from a long-absent friend when I heard a voice of a character I wanted to know the latest about.
March by Geraldine Brooks (2005)
A confession: the version of Little Women that I read as a kid was an ABRIDGED one, which I didn’t realize until I was an adult. But by reading this novel that follows the father of the March family to the Civil War made me feel like I had the full story. March is an idealist minister who believes strongly in abolition. Before joining the North as a chaplain, he and Marmee were active in the Underground Railroad. Through letters home and his reflections of his present and past, March shows all his conflicts and complications.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (2008)
A novel in letters set during World War II. Juliet is an author in London searching for a topic for her next book when she receives a letter from a man in Guernsey who writes all about life on the island during occupation by the Germans. The two continue exchanging letters until Juliet travels to Guernsey to meet the residents in person at last.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (2022)
The novel has three points of view: Tova, a 60-year-old who lives in a small town in Washington state and cleans the local aquarium at night; Cameron, a 30-year-old who lives in Modesto, CA, and is still finding his path; and Marcellus, a 4-year-old Great Pacific Octopus who lives at the aquarium Tova cleans. All three are searching — for family, for relief from grief, for freedom. Van Pelt does a fantastic job developing the characters as she weaves their stories together. I loved this satisfying and feel-good story.